Carrolls and Firrs

by Janice M. Whiteaker

  “Yup.” Doug slipped the empty bucket under the dash and pulled away. Their daily feeding sessions went much faster now that his dad could pass out as fast as the deer could eat.

  “Stop!”

  Doug held his right arm over his dad’s chest and slammed on the brakes, his heart pounding. “What’s wrong?”

  “Look.” Bruce motioned across the field. The tips of an impressive set of antlers barely peeked out from the scrawny tree line. Slowly, the large buck stepped from the brush, sniffing the air.

  Doug cut the engine and helped his dad lift up to get a better view of his long lost friend. Bruce hardly blinked as the buck snorted a few times, his ears flicking in all direction. Then, silently, he disappeared back into the woods.

  His dad was grinning from ear to ear. “Did ya see that?” Bruce squinted in the direction the buck disappeared. “This day just keeps gettin’ better and better.”

  At least it was for someone and no one deserved it more than his dad. Doug started the ATV up and slowly eased away, Bruce scanned for any reappearance of the big buck as they pulled up through the rows of next year’s Christmas trees and away from the deer fields.

  When he couldn’t crane his neck any more, Bruce settled into his seat and sucked in a deep breath. “Are you ready to go get some lunch?” He glanced Doug’s way and his smile faded. “Oh yeah. I forgot you’re a killjoy today.”

  “I’m not a killjoy.” Doug slowed down to snag an abandoned fast food wrapper the wind carried onto the farm. “I just have a lot on my mind.” He shoved the wrapper in his pocket and continued on toward the house. “I’ll drive you over in the truck. I have some errands I need to run.”

  “You headed into town?” Bruce adjusted his hat, using the heel of one hand to scoot it back and forth.

  “I’ve had some guys working at the building downtown. I want to check in and see how things are going. What they got done.” He’d been staying away, letting the professionals do most of the work but he had to start making choices on flooring and fixtures so they could be ordered. “I shouldn’t be gone too long.”

  He could go down, look things over, pick some hardwood and a few lights and get out of there. All those years he spent dreaming of the building and what he could do with it and now that he had it Doug could barely stand to be there.

  “You don’t have to rush back on my account.” His dad’s face stayed straight ahead but his eyes slowly slid in Doug’s direction. “Go visit my girlfriend. Take her someplace nice for me.”

  Doug squeezed the steering wheel until his fingers ached. Telling his dad what happened with Ellie wasn’t something he wanted to do. So far he’d managed to avoid any questions about her sudden absence over the past few days. But it looked like the avoiding was over.

  He turned out of the field and toward the house, the ATV rolling easily along the farmhouses large yard, almost keeping up with the cars driving down the road in front. “I’m not seeing Ellie anymore.”

  It was the first time he said it out loud. Or at all. He didn’t want it to be true and if he didn’t tell anyone maybe it wasn’t. But it was. Ellie didn’t want him. He wasn’t enough. Never would be.

  His dad turned Doug’s way. “I don’t think she knows that.”

  “She does.” Doug forced his fingers to relax and stared straight ahead, barely seeing the crumpled grass in front of him. “I’m positive.”

  “I guess you’ll have to explain that to her then.”

  Doug looked at his dad. Bruce nodded toward the house.

  There, standing next to her open Jeep door was Ellie, looking just as pretty as ever. Pretty and—

  “Man she looks hacked off.” His dad was smiling from ear to ear.

  Doug swallowed hard. As miserable as the past few days were, this was worse. Having to listen to Ellie give him some sort of ‘it’s not you it’s me’ spiel would be unbearable. But unless he wanted to take off in the ATV there was no way out of this. She blocked his truck in.

  He slowed to a stop. “Hey.”

  Ellie didn’t look his way. She gave his dad that sweet smile that used to be for him. “Hi handsome.”

  “Doug was just about to get me set up inside.” His dad gave her a wink. “I’ll be sure he comes right back out.”

  “Thank you. That would be wonderful.” Her words were so sweet, so polite.

  He was so screwed.

  Doug pulled the ATV around to the back making sure the passenger side was even with the ramp. It took less than two minutes to get his dad in the wheelchair, rolled up the wood plank ramp and inside the house.

  He tried to push his dad into the family room where his chair was but Bruce waved him off. “Get out there.” He hooked his wrist over Doug’s shoulder and pulled his son down to eye level. “Let her rip you a new one and thank your lucky stars the girl likes you enough to do it.”

  “That’s not why she’s here.” Doug knew how Bruce felt about Ellie and it hurt him almost as much that his dad was losing her too. “She doesn’t want to be with me.”

  His dad laughed. “Maybe you can push me somewhere after all. But take me to the front window. I wanna watch this.”

  Doug stood up and patted his dad on the shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

  Bruce called after him just as Doug closed the front door. “I wouldn’t count on it son.”

  Ellie still stood by her Jeep, arms still crossed. The smile she gave his father was replaced by a serious scowl directed straight at him. Man he was glad Ellie wasn’t his boss because she would intimidate the pants off him.

  Who was he kidding. She did anyway.

  “Hey.” He stopped a few feet away and repeated his greeting from earlier because what else do you say to the woman here to break your heart.

  Her eyes narrowed and Ellie stared at him for a few long, horrible seconds. Finally she took a sharp breath and stood up straight, her arms falling to her sides as she stepped in his direction. “Do you know how awful I felt these past few days? Wondering what in the world I did to upset you. To make you just walk out like you did.” She stopped and her scowl deepened.

  “Then it hit me. I didn’t do anything to upset you. I didn’t do anything to hurt you.” She shook her head and opened her eyes wide as if the realization still shocked her. The scowl snapped right back into place as she started to advance on him again, not stopping until they were nearly toe to toe.

  “You. Hurt. Me.” Ellie punctuated each word with a poke to the center of his chest, stabbing him literally right in his heart. “What kind of awful self-centered person do you think I am?”

  Doug shoved his hands in his pockets. “That’s not what I think you are. You deserve someone like you.”

  “So I must think I’m better than you?” Her voice went up a notch in pitch and in volume. “Because I went to college and you didn’t I think I’m above you?” Ellie’s mouth barely quirked to a frown before she pushed her lips tightly together. “That’s even worse.”

  “It’s happened before.” Doug looked up, trying to put the look of hurt on her face out of his mind.

  “So that’s it. I have to pay for what some stupid girl did.” She took a deep breath, a soft sniffle sneaking in at the end. “Do you even know me? How could you think I would care, even for a second, about something as trivial as that?”

  Doug resisted the urge to step back. “It’s not trivial.”

  “Just because you believe it doesn’t make it true.” Ellie looked up at him, her eyes shimmering. “Do you really think I am anything besides impressed at what you accomplished?” She blinked hard. “You have accomplished so much and done it better than anyone I’ve ever known.” She shook her head a little. “And you did it all on your own.”

  Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. “You’re amazing.”

  Doug cleared his throat trying to dislodge the lump of emotion threatening to strangle him. He looked down at his boots, breathing deep, wanting to believe her words but just as scared of what it mean
t if they were true.

  Ellie’s warm hands gently pressed against his cheeks. “Please look at me.”

  He raised his eyes.

  Her eyes searched his. “There is nothing I want more in this world than to be with you.”

  Doug spent his adult life trying to prove he was more than a drop-out. Worthy in spite of being uneducated. Hoping that someday he would find a woman who loved him even though he didn’t have a diploma or a degree.

  Never in a million years would he have expected to find one who admired him because of it. But here he was.

  And it was almost more than he could handle.

  There were no words to explain to Ellie what he felt. How she made him feel. And he wasn’t going to try. Not right now anyway.

  Maybe later.

  Right now, there was only one thing left in the world that he wanted.

  Doug pulled Ellie tight against his chest and pressed his lips against hers. He kissed her hair, her face, and then her lips again.

  Her mouth curved into a smile against his as she wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close. She pulled back. “Are you always going to be this difficult?”

  For the first time in days he laughed. “I can’t make any promises.”

  She poked him in the chest. “Don’t give me too hard of a time or you’ll have a permanent bruise.”

  Doug picked her up and spun her around laughing as she squealed. He would take a million bruises if it meant she was his. He didn’t want to ever let her go. Unfortunately, the satiny texture of her quilted coat didn’t make her easy to hang on to.

  As he set her back on the ground, Ellie struggled to readjust, tugging at the bunched up fabric of her coat and yanking at the knit scarf pulled tight against her neck.

  He reached up to smooth the lapels of her coat and something caught his eye.

  Ellie looked down, her fingers coming up to brush across the pendant still around her neck.

  “You didn’t take it off.”

  She shook her head.

  Doug touched the tip of his finger to the smooth silver tree. He took a deep breath steeling himself for her reaction. “I want to talk to your parents.”

  She looked at him for what felt like forever.

  “Okay.”

  She glanced over his shoulder, then her eyes came back to his. “We should probably go talk to yours first though.” She leaned to one side and gave a little wave.

  Doug didn’t have to turn around. “How long’s he been there?”

  “The whole time.” She smiled toward the house.

  Doug turned. His dad sat in the front window grinning like a loon. Bruce held up both hands, his thumbs barely raised.

  “He is something else.” Ellie gave his dad a thumbs up. “For the record I planned on keeping him even if you didn’t want to be with me.”

  Doug wrapped one arm around her shoulders as they walked toward the house. “That would have been awkward.”

  Ellie raised her eyebrows. “Speaking of awkward.” She wrapped her arm around his waist. “Are you sure you want to be the one to talk to my parents?”

  Doug looked down at the woman beside him and his chest tightened. She was everything.

  His everything.

  He dropped a kiss on her head.

  “I’m positive.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  ELLIE SIPPED AT her coffee as Doug backed down the driveway to her newly rented house.

  “How is it?” He gave her a smile.

  Ellie forced a smile. Not even a set of dimples like his could take her mind off the morning’s task.

  “I don’t even know right now.” She sipped at the screaming hot beverage again. “It’s good. I think.”

  Doug reached across and let his hand rest on her knee. “It is going to be fine.” He squeezed gently. “I promise.”

  “I know.” She absolutely did not know it was going to be fine. Dealing with her parents was like wrangling a toddler. As long as they got their way, everything was fine.

  But today they were not getting their way. At all.

  And they hadn’t for almost a week now. The last time she saw them was four days ago when she emptied out the garage and left them assuming she was moving back to the city.

  Not that it was for lack of trying on their part. Ellie had no less than fifty missed calls and poor Betsy was caught in the middle, fielding phone calls and questions about Ellie’s plans for the bakery.

  Luckily Betsy wasn’t a shrinking violet and was more than willing to pretend like she had no clue where Ellie was and happy to make it perfectly clear that she had no intention of taking on the bakery by herself.

  They were on their own.

  Ellie set her cup in the console. “I’m worried they will say something horrible to you.”

  “Really?” Doug looked genuinely surprised. “I never got the feeling your parents were horrible people.”

  “They blamed you and your family for their problems.” Ellie shook her head. “Problems they earned all on their own.”

  Doug shrugged it off. “Most people can’t admit when they screw up.” He turned the truck toward downtown. “They needed a reason and there I was.”

  Ellie let out a long frustrated breath. “That doesn’t make it right.”

  “It doesn’t.” He laced his fingers between hers and brought the back of her hand to his mouth for a soft kiss. “But I’m not worried about it and I don’t want you to be worried about it either.”

  “You’re not the boss of me.” She slid him a look from the corner of her eye as her mouth twitched, threatening to ease into a smile.

  “Oh sweetheart I know that.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh. “As long as we’re on the same page.”

  Doug pulled the truck into the narrow driveway tucked against the side of her parents’ two-story house. Ellie’s stomach twisted as they drove to the back of the historic home and stopped.

  “Doesn’t look like anyone’s home.” Doug looked up at the dark windows of the quiet house. “You think they’re at the shop?”

  “I guess it’s a possibility.” The idea that her parents would still be trying to get the shop together hadn’t occurred to her. They weren’t too interested in putting in the work when she was there so Ellie couldn’t imagine they were any more motivated on their own. “I doubt it though.”

  Doug put the truck in reverse and turned to look out the back of the cab as he backed down the driveway. “Worth a shot.”

  He was a man on a mission. It took a lot of convincing to keep him from driving right over to their house Sunday night after she read him the riot act. Doug wanted to tackle this head on, handle it, and get on with their life.

  She was leaning more towards putting it off as long as possible and it aggravated the heck out of Ellie because that wasn’t her. In every other aspect of her life she grabbed the bull by the horns and looked it square in the face, but with her parents she struggled. Maybe because they had her number. Knew exactly how to get her to do what they wanted.

  Doug squeezed her hand. “Stop worrying. Let me handle this.”

  “Okay.” A little of the pressure squeezing her chest eased.

  This time she wasn’t alone. This time she had someone in her corner, ready to stand up with her. Ellie looked at the man beside her. Jaw set, shoulders squared, Doug looked ready to do battle.

  For her.

  When her mother’s sedan came into view, parked in front of the shop, Ellie’s heart didn’t miss a beat. Doug was right. It was time. Everything was going to be fine. They would handle this.

  Together.

  Doug pulled his truck into the spot behind her mother’s car. This time she was the one squeezing his hand. “Ready?”

  He tugged her across the console and kissed her softly. “More than.”

  They got out of the truck and walked to the door. Before the renovations started Ellie covered the large front windows to the shop and the bakery so no one could peek
in and see what was coming, not realizing it would soon put her in the same boat.

  Doug pulled open the door. Ellie stepped inside and found both of her parents covered in the glossy white paint she chose for the shelving. Her mother clapped her hands together and held them over her mouth, eyes shimmering at her daughter. Her father smiled and gave her a smug nod.

  Then Doug stepped in behind her.

  And it was Ellie’s turn to smile. “Morning.”

  Dale Carroll’s eyes widened under paint streaked brows and her mother gasped.

  It was glorious.

  Doug stepped to her side and nodded at her dad. “Dale.” Then her mother. “Cris.”

  There was a moment of silence. Her parents gawking and Ellie holding back a smile of pride as Doug stood tall and strong beside her.

  Then all hell broke loose.

  Her mother’s clasped hands dropped. “Holy—”

  “This is who you’ve been seeing?” Her father looked back and forth between them, his eyes moving faster with each sweep. “I can’t believe it.” He held his forehead with one hand. “I won’t believe it.”

  Something inside Ellie snapped. It was one thing to give her a hard time. It was another to say something that might hurt Doug. “Oh you can believe it.” She tried to step forward, ready to fight for the man beside her, but Doug’s strong arm snaked around her waist and held her firmly at his side.

  “This is ridiculous Noelle.” Her mother stepped beside her dad. “Why are you punishing us like this?”

  Doug’s grip tightened. “No one is punishing anyone.” His voice was calm and low. “I have never done anything to you despite what you’ve been spreading around town all these years. If anything you should be happy.” He looked down at Ellie, his eyes dark and serious. “Because no one will take care of her the way I will.”

  She could see in his eyes he meant every word. It was too bad her parents were too stuck up their own butts to see what a good man Doug was. They were about to find out he wasn’t the only one they misjudged.

  “This is actually your fault.” She leaned into Doug’s side hoping some of his demeanor would rub off on her. “If you hadn’t asked me to fix the shop I would never have called Doug for help.”